Professors Tanya Cooper and Brittany Stringfellow Otey Present "Open Conversations: Engaging Hot Topics to Build Community, Defend Democracy, and Advance Professionalism in Law School" -- University of Alabama School of Law

Clinical law professors Tanya Cooper and Brittany Stringfellow Otey presented "Open Conversations: Engaging Hot Topics to Build Community, Defend Democracy, and Advance Professionalism in Law School" at the Southern Clinical Conference 2026 at the University of Alabama School of Law. They were joined by University of Alabama Law professor Jeffrey R. Baker. The conference, themed "Courage and Freedom in the South," took place on October 15-17.

From the Southern Clinical Conference 2026: 

The US is in an era of extreme political polarization, and these social fractures hamper democratic engagement and movements toward justice in society. Law schools are not immune from these dynamics, and problematic rhetoric around “wokeness,” “cancel culture,” and the like can divide communities of students, faculty, staff, and administrators. These harsh divisions can harm sound education, professional formation, and progress toward inclusive and just communities and society. Effective, competent, and ethical lawyers should be able to engage across difference and controversy with care, creativity, and confidence, and law schools and legal clinics should prepare students for this difficult work. Professors Tanya Asim Cooper and Brittany Stringfellow Otey, together with their former colleague and clinic director, Jeff Baker have led and moderated Open Conversations and will discuss the objectives, history, and practice of Open Conversations. This will include in depth discussion of the decisions around timing, location, and food at these events and the critical importance of ground rules, conversational harnesses, and effective moderation. They will discuss successes and failures to illuminate lessons learned and the broad effect in the culture of the law school. They will invite participants to share comparable experiences at their law schools and will demonstrate how an Open Conversation works during the session.

Additional information may be found at Southern Clinical Conference 2026